Combatting Hate
43rd World Religions Conference
Sunday, November 23, 2025 (12:30 pm ~ 5:45 pm)
Lazaridis Hall Auditorium at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.
Theme: Combatting Hate
Canada's Largest Multi Faith Event
Entire conference will be live streamed here on this website.
Call for Speakers and Partner Organizations
The 43rd World Religions Conference will be held this fall on Sunday, November 23, 2025 at Lazaridis Hall at Wilfrid Laurier University. The conference has been organized in Canada since 1981. It has a long tradition for bringing together renowned scholars for a deep and thought-provoking exchange of ideas. The event aims to explore the teachings and practices of different religious and philosophical traditions, with the hope that such mutual exploration will encourage better understanding and promote harmonious co-existence among the members of the society.
The theme selected for this year’s conference is: Combatting Hate
The theme “Combatting Hate” calls upon faith communities to confront one of the most pressing challenges of our time. Hate in its many forms—whether based on religion, race, culture, or ideology—undermines peace and erodes the values of justice and compassion that lie at the heart of all major faith traditions. At this year’s World Religions Conference, representatives from eight world religions will share their perspectives on how spiritual teachings, moral principles, and lived experiences can help root out prejudice and intolerance. Together, the voices of diverse faiths will highlight the power of dialogue, empathy, and collective action in transforming hate into understanding, division into unity, and fear into hope.
Our aim is to find speakers who are best suited to the spirit of the conference and are knowledgeable in their religious or philosophical perspective on this year’s topic. In order to make the event appealing to the widest audience possible, the proposed speakers should be known in their respective organizations and the community at large.
The conference explored the impact of polarization of this world and how to heal it. Our world is becoming polarized in many ways. May it be political, religious ideologies, economics or social status. This is causing a decrease in empathy and
tolerance and triggering conflict after conflict. How can we heal this polarized world? We invited organizations from the leading faith groups and philosophical traditions to tackle this daunting question in the theme of this year’s conference.
About World Religions Conference
The World Religions Conference (WRC) is a multi-faith event which brings together well-known scholars from the world’s major religions to speak on a common topic from the point of view of their respective religious traditions. For 41+ years, the WRC has served as an invaluable forum for different religious and ethnic communities to gather in the spirit of tolerance, peace, cooperation, and understanding. The WRC serves the noble purpose of educating members of the community regarding interesting and relevant topics by providing a platform where all major religions can pool their collective wisdom and teachings regarding the topic. Continually on the rise in terms of organizational standards, quality of content, and attendance, the WRC has become Canada's largest and longest running event of its kind!
The conference has a long tradition for bringing together renowned scholars for a deep and thought-provoking exchange of ideas. The event aims to explore the teachings and practices of different religious and philosophical traditions, with the hope that such mutual exploration will encourage better understanding and promote harmonious co-existence among the members of the society.
Participating Religions and Philosophical Traditions:
Buddhism, Islam, Sikhism, Judaism, Christianity, Hinduism, Indigenous Spirituality and Humanism (Atheism and Agnostics)
The conference has been organized in Canada since 1981. It has a long tradition for bringing together renowned scholars for a deep and thought-provoking exchange of ideas. The event aims to explore the teachings and practices of different religious and philosophical traditions, with the hope that such mutual exploration will encourage better understanding and promote harmonious co-existence among the members of the society.
Date of Event: Sunday, November 23, 2025 12:30pm to 5:00pm
Venue: Lazaridis Hall Auditorium Hall, Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
For more info call: 1-877-INFO-WRC
[Futher updates and details about the event will be posted here]